President SNOC’s Address at the SNOC Annual General Meeting

EVENT: THE SNOC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2012VENUE: THE RAFFLES TOWN CLUBDATE: 29 JUNE 2012

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, we meet again for the Singapore National Olympic Council Annual General Meeting.
The highlight of the sporting calendar in 2011/2012 was the South East Asian Games held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. In addition, the various SNOC Committees were kept busy with their own activities, and I will highlight the major ones in this report.Major Games

The 26th South East Asian Games 2011, Indonesia

The 26th SEA Games was held in Palembang and Jakarta, Indonesia from 11 to 22 November 2011 where a total of 42 sports were featured. Singapore was represented by a 617-member contingent comprising 413 athletes and 204 officials participating in 33 sports. We won a total of 160 medals, 42 gold, 45 silver and 73 bronze medals from 25 sports. Singapore finished 5th out of 11 countries in the overall Games medal tally. Four SEA Games Records (in Swimming), eight National Records (7 in Swimming and 1 in Waterski) and 28 Personal Best times were achieved by our athletes. Overall, it was a satisfactory performance by the contingent.

STAC Visits

As it was a SEA Games year, the STAC team was kept busy as it carried out visits to the NSAs from January to July 2011. Dr Tan Eng Liang, his STAC team, and the staff from SSC’s Sports Development Group discussed and addressed the issues raised by the NSAs during the visits. For the first time, STAC funded a team bound for a major game. STAC supported the National Women’s Waterpolo team with $8,000 for their training and preparations towards their debut outing at the SEA Games. STAC will look into extending similar support for deserving teams and athletes for future major games, with Olympic Council of Asia and Commonwealth Games Federation support grants, where available.

NSA Representation in SNOC

The three NSA representatives in the SNOC Executive Committee have stepped down or will be stepping down. I would like to thank Mrs Jessie Phua (Singapore Bowling Federation), Mr Oon Jin Gee (Singapore Swimming Association) and Mr Chng Seng Mok (Singapore Shooting Association), who stepped down on 26 March 2012, for serving in the SNOC this past year. Later in this AGM we will have our election for the three NSA representatives to serve in SNOC for the new work year. We will continue to include co-opted members BG (NS) Lim Teck Yin, Chief Executive Officer of SSC, which has ensured the close working relationship between SSC and the SNOC, and Mr Tan Soo Nan, the Chief Executive of Totalisator Board in the SNOC Executive Committee.

SNOC Medical Commission

The SNOC Medical Commission, one of the most recently set up Commissions of the SNOC, was formed for the purpose of implementing the Olympic Movement Medical Code. It plays a very important role to ensure that sport is practised without danger to the health of the athletes, bearing in mind fair play and sports ethics. The SNOC Medical Commission communicates with the NSAs, reminding them of the need to ensure prompt medical attention for their athletes. To prevent doping, it also advises the NSAs of the new list of prohibited substances and methods for each year. The Medical Commission also assisted SNOC with updating its Anti-Doping Rules, provided advice on the medical support to the 2011 SEA Games, and was involved with the setting up of the Singapore Sports Institute’s Sports Medicine Network. The Commission is currently involved in advising and providing medical support for our athletes preparing for the London 2012 Olympic Games. This includes, for the first time, making arrangements for the dental screening of all athletes, to prevent dental problems occurring during the Olympics.

Athletes Commission (AC)

The Athletes’ Commission continues to focus on programmes to actively involve the athlete – athletes’ career, mentoring, networking, sponsorship, awards, image and publicity, and bonding. The members continued to represent and serve the athletes in the following areas:

Mediation

Advisory

Representation

International Olympic Committee Athlete Career Program

Together with SNOC’s Athlete Career Program (ACP) partner Adecco Singapore, the AC worked with the Singapore Sports Council on the Athlete Career Program workshops. A session of the worldwide IOC-Athlete Career Programme was organised on 16 April 2011. This is the third consecutive year that this collaborative programme has taken place. During the session, the 15 athletes gained useful insights into their career preferences, and started on planning their possible future careers based on their interests and strengths. Survey findings after the session revealed that all of them found the programmes extremely beneficial and would recommend it to their fellow athletes. The SNOC AC also discussed ways for larger scale projects to create awareness to athletes on career planning, possible mentoring programs, meet-the-champions sessions, and establishing supporting structures for schools or employers towards better support of elite athletes. Planning is underway for these potential projects.

Singapore Olympic AcademyBreakfast with Champions

Next, the Singapore Olympic Academy. A “Breakfast with Champions” session was organised for students from schools in the South Zone. Held on 10 March 2012 at Raffles Institution (RI), Olympians and national athletes representing Track and Field, Basketball, Sailing and Hockey shared their experiences with the young student-athletes through presentations, and a discussion panel. They also conducted coaching clinics for the students.

SOA International Seminar

The Singapore Olympic Academy International Seminar, a three-day workshop, themed “Teaching values through sport” was held on 21-23 November 2011 at the National Institute of Education (NIE). Held in collaboration with the Office of Graduate Studies and Profession Learning (GPL) and the National Institute of Education (NIE), the seminar was attended by a total of 135 participants, including 9 participants from the ASEAN National Olympic Committees.

Olympic Scholarship Committee

The Olympic Scholarship for Athletes London 2012 is given out by Olympic Solidarity, IOC to assist selected elite athletes in their preparation and qualification for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Six of the 8 athletes on scholarship have qualified for the Games:

Yao Lei – Badminton

Shinta Mulia Sari – Badminton

Yin Yue Ling Elizabeth – Sailing

Ser Xiang Wei Jasmine – Shooting

Gao Ning – Table Tennis

Yang Zi – Table Tennis

(2 athletes Xing Aiying and Chaiyut Triyachart from Badminton did not qualify for the Games.)

The Olympic Solidarity Sports Administrators Course was again organised with the assistance of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East, from 7 February to 12 March 2012. 22 participants, from the National Sports Associations, Singapore Sports Council, schools and general public attended the course. The SNOC and ITE College East plans to organise the first Olympic Solidarity Advanced Sport Administrators Course in the next Olympic quadrennial from 2013 to 2016. This is to cater to the needs of sports administrators who have progressed from the basic to the next level of management of sports organizations, clubs and NSAs.

International Coaching Course

The International Coaching Course is a three-month intensive course organized by the Semmelweis University, Hungary in cooperation with IOC Olympic Solidarity. SNOC nominated Ms Asmah Hanim from the Singapore Athletics Association to attend the course from 29 March to 15 June 2011 together with 47 other coaches from around the world. Ms Asmah completed the course successfully and was awarded a diploma issued by the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Science, Semmelweis University.

NOC Internship Programme

The NOC Internship Programme is an IOC Olympic Solidarity Programme allowing National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and their staff members to gain sports management experience through a short-term internship with an NOC that is more experienced in a specific area of management. The SNOC was honoured to be invited by the IOC to participate in this Olympic Solidarity NOC Internship Programme as a mentor NOC. We hosted our first NOC Intern, Ms Jane Felicia Wong, from the Fiji Association of Sports and NOC, from 17 September to 17 December 2011. The focus area of the internship was “SNOC’s preparation, support and operations – the 26th SEA Games 2011″. It was an enriching experience for Ms Wong to learn through participation, how SNOC prepares for and operates at a major Game. As the host, SNOC also learned more about the operations of the Fiji NOC.

Giving is Winning

The “Giving Is Winning” campaign is a joint effort by the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to encourage athletes and officials to donate their clothing to refugee camps worldwide. This campaign is held once every four years coinciding with the Olympic Games. This year’s campaign is in conjunction with the London 2012 Olympic Games. SNOC, with the support of DHL Express Singapore, donated 770 kilogrammes of clothing, collected from our athletes and officials, to the UNHCR refugee camp in Nepal on 2 March 2012. This is the second time SNOC has participated in this campaign, having donated in 2007 and 2008 to Moldova and Burundi for the “Giving Is Winning” campaign linked to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Olympians Singapore

“Olympians Singapore”, the recently formed alumni group for Singapore Olympians, organized the inaugural “Olympians Night” on 16 May 2011 at the Orchard Hotel. Individualised medals were presented to the 167 Olympians who had represented Singapore from 1936 to 2008. This was also the first time that Singapore Olympians spanning 1936 to 2008 had gathered to meet as a group. Our Olympians are now participating in many programs with young athletes such as the Singapore Olympic Academy’s Breakfast with Champions, “Chat with Olympians” at the YOG Gallery and “Let’s Play Clinics”, to name just a few. We look forward to more of such gatherings in future.

Singapore Olympic Foundation

The Singapore Olympic Foundation – Peter Lim Scholarship was founded on 29 June 2010 with the aim of helping promising young athletes with financial constraints to achieve their goals in sports. The scholarship is also extended to deserving athletes who are training with the respective National Youth or National Teams on the high-performance pathway. The scholarship is for one year. The first scholarships were given out in 2011. A total of 189 Scholarships, amounting to $420,000, were awarded to primary, secondary and tertiary students, and high performance athletes. The 2012 scholarship awardees will soon receive their awards at a ceremony on 16 July.

Singapore Youth Olympic Festival

As a legacy of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, the inaugural Singapore Youth Olympic Festival was held from 14 – 19 August 2011. In the Olympic spirit of Excellence, Friendship and Respect, four athletes from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami-affected region were invited to the event. A token of support was presented from SNOC to the Japanese Olympic Committee, for “Tsubasa” the Olympic Support programme in support of youths in Japan affected by the tsunami disaster of 11 March 2011. The sports competition for the 2011 SYOF included Badminton, Table Tennis and Taekwondo; and the team sport of Basketball 3-on-3 and 5-a-side Football. The Festival presented a unique opportunity for future Singapore Olympians to compete on the international stage in an environment that is similar to the Asian Youth Games and the Youth Olympic Games. This Festival marked a new chapter in Singapore’s effort to ensure continuity in the Olympic movement’s drive towards engaging the youth through major games while promoting the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.

SNOC Marketing Committee

Since the Marketing Committee of the SNOC was formed, it has helped to address sponsors’ interest in SNOC, and expedited the following partnerships with SNOC:

The Partnership Program allows sponsors to showcase up to six of our athletes for two appearances a year. The sponsor is also allowed to take photographs or videos of the partner athlete for their promotional materials, which also helps to market our athletes.

SingTel “Igniting your support for Team Singapore”

The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) received its largest and longest sponsorship to date – a five-year partnership with SingTel which was announced on 23 March 2012. This partnership with SingTel will see us working on programs for the athletes for not just the London 2012 Games but also the Rio 2016 Games.

SNOC has just signed an agreement with Olympic Sponsor Samsung for four years, 2012 to 2015, for an even larger sponsorship.

I would like to thank the Marketing Committee for taking this very important step forward.

SNOC – Japan Olympic Committee Memorandum of Understanding

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between SNOC and the Japan Olympic Committee made possible the attachment of Mr Takashi Kobayashi, Gymnastics Coaching Director, National Training Center from Japan Gymnastics Association, in Singapore from 26 to 27 October 2011 to assist Singapore Gymnastics in the development of coaching. Mr Kobayashi observed Singapore Gymnastics’ training programmes and offered insights into the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics structure in Japan. He also imparted coaching techniques to coaches from Singapore Gymnastics’ High Performance Training Programme.

Hosting of the 2015 SEA Games

The SEA Games Federation at its Council meeting on 12 November 2011 granted Singapore the honour of hosting the 28th South East Asian Games in 2015. This will be the fourth time we are hosting the games, with the last SEA Games hosted here in 1993. It will be exciting for us to host the SEA Games again, especially with the new Sports Hub as the focal point of the games. I hope that the NSAs, the key pillars of the sports movement, will work with SNOC, SSC, MCYS and the many other agencies to bring about a SEA Games 2015 that will excite not just the participants but all Singaporeans, just like what we did for the Youth Olympic Games 2010.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude by thanking Singapore Totalisator Board and Singapore Pools. They are our steadfast supporters and the main sponsors of SNOC’s programmes and activities, including the sponsorship of Team Singapore to the major Games and its MAP awards. My thanks also to the many volunteer office bearers and the other SNOC sponsors and partners. Each one is acknowledged in the SNOC Annual Report in pages 31 and 32. I also want to give special mention to the NSAs and their athletes, and the SSC/MCYS, who together with SNOC constitute the three pillars for sports in Singapore, for another very successful sporting year. I am grateful for the privilege of having served with many energetic, knowledgable and committed sports officials and athletes over the years that I have been associated with the SNOC. I am particularly happy to see that through the annual election of NSA representatives to serve on the SNOC Executive Committee, we have brought a good number of able sports leaders into the sports administration arena beyond their own sport. This bodes well for the future. For the remainder of my term, I will also be turning my attention to the issue of making sure that we have a steady and strong leadership succession for the SNOC. Thank you all once again.